Students from TJ’s college level science courses travel to Samuels Elementary to spread their science knowledge and participate in their science fair.
Photo by Danielle Schreiber
On Wednesday January 25, 2012, 23 AP Biology and Physics students spent the day at nearby Samuels Elementary School helping to judge and award their annual, school-wide science fair.
TJ Physics Teacher Nelson Vore has collaborated with Samuels for the past four years to set up the event. All AP science students from TJ were invited each year to go to the fair as judges. “I don’t ever go to the science fair, I just send TJ kids over as a way for them to reach out and be part of the community. Samuels is a feeder school to TJ, and I think it gives the kids there an opportunity to see TJ and what we’re about,” said Vore.
The morning of the event, TJ students gathered to eat breakfast and go over their duties for the day. First, the AP students were split into different teams, each of which was assigned a group of students that were the top ten from each grade. “My group judged the second grade projects. We graded the kids projects on a scale from one to five based on creativity, originality, neatness, and their use of the scientific method,” said AP Physics Student Cole Stewart.
Photo by Becca Hansen
The judges got the top ten kids of their designated grade out of class to present their projects and demonstrate their experiments. One second-grader constructed a battery out of a penny, a nail, and a lemon in a project he called “The World’s Cheapest Battery.” “I thought it was interesting how he was telling us things that we’re learning in physics now such as changes in voltage and current. We all made sure to tell him he’s going to excel when he reaches high school,” AP Physics Student Mallory Baker stated.
Another favorite project amongst the third-grade competitors was a project about waters acidity. “The best project I saw dealt with alkaline water versus tap water. It talked about the pH of different waters. She concluded that tap water is actually better because of its pH level,” said AP Biology Student April Regas.
Samuels faculty member Danielle Schreiber says the day was a positive and fun experience for both groups of students, big and little. “The elementary students loved having older kids judge their projects and spend time with them,” said Schreiber.
Vore says he plans on sending his students for the science fair as long as Samuels wants to have them. “It’s a great way for our students to represent TJ. There are some smart kids over there; hopefully some of them choose to come here for high school,” said Vore.
